Wow.... 

What excitement over these past two days!!

Number 1 - My girlfriend, Paula Barnes (Red Crinoline Quilts) is FINALLY a grandmother to baby number two!!  He was a little stubborn arriving.... but he was born yesterday morning at 10:42 am - John Mitchell - weighing in at 7 lb 15 oz.  What a sweet size!  I seemed to have babies that were half grown already!!!  You wouldn't know it today...they are both tall and skinny!!

Then....

Number 2 - My girlfriend, Lynne Hagmeier(Kansas Troubles Quilts) and her hubby, Robert have just opened their NEW QUILT STORE in Bennington, Kansas along with their retreat also!!  OMG!!  You should see this retreat - EVERYTHING is antique.... it is so stinkin' fabulous... I've been there 3 times already!  Antique beds, quilts, each bed has a little antique bedside table with little antique dishes to place your jewelry in...then there is the antique little display at the end of each bed... antique lamps and wastebaskets at your sewing centers... it's simply magical and gorgeous!!  
Go to:  http://kansastroublesquilters-lynne.blogspot.com/ and read all about it!  

Then....

Number 3 - I'm designing fabric (for a FABULOUS company) and I got my final strike-offs (samples that we approve for color, density, value, etc.) and they are WONDERFUL!!!!  They will now go into production at the mill.  Then I'll get fabric to make my samples.... and WOW... do we have lots of different samples to make!  I couldn't sleep last night...thinking about all the wonderful things I have to make and design!

Then...

Number 4 - We get to spend Easter Sunday with the entire family at my niece's home in Middleburg.  They have the perfect back yard to find those hidden Easter eggs.  We all cook and take food and it's so wonderful being with the family and all the "wee" ones.  We'll have my great-granddaughter there for her first egg hunt.  I can't wait to see the grin on her face...she's always smiling!  That must be because she has such a super-great mommy!!!

Then...

Number 5 - I got to spend time yesterday with my sewing girlfriends and showed them how to make sweet little zipper bags.  They all did such a great job... before I knew it they were making their second one... their third one.... and MORE!!  They were all so darn cute!  Plus they made me a wonderful lunch(thanks Denise and Virginia), yummy "iced" brownies for dessert (thanks Ruth) and lots of sweet little gifts that I adore.  


Then...

Number 6 - Heather, Vicky and I are going to venture out into the technology world and work on "e-patterns" on our web site.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!!! You know how it is when you see a pattern... you love it and  you want it NOW!  So... that's what we're going to do... remove the paper printing from our end along with the postage the customer has to pay... and put them on-line.  We'll let you know when they begin to show up on our web site.


So......  Today I'm going to work on reproducing an antique quilt with adorable 'baskets' - set on point!  We're going to remake the quilt from my fabric.  (Once I get the "go ahead and release" from the fabric company, I will give you more information...it has to be hush, hush for now!)  

Plus... I purchased this gorgeous antique rug at one of my quilt markets... it's completely made with all PRAIRIE POINTS... and it too will be from my fabric.  We are going to have TONS of things for them to show at market to help sell, sell, sell our first new line (Vicky and I are designing it together).


Today I get to sew all day and that just simply makes me a happy girl... !!

Take it easy everyone... enjoy your Easter Holiday!  God Bless all of you!

Take a super - great nap this weekend!  

It feels so wonderful....

Hugs to all!

Gloria

I'm Just Sayin' !!!

After this nasty weekend.... 

However.... it's Monday morning and the sun is shining... it is going to be chillier... but that's okay.  Our backyard is pretty darn soggy and we need to let the water soak in!!

However, one of my fellow quilters showed a picture of her back patio...covered with snow.... wanting to know if we would want to barbecue outside and eat on the back deck.  NO!!  NO!!  NO!!.... however, I will take a rain check on that invitation!

Today I'm catching up on all of those little things that need finishing up!  I finally got my email back online...it was off all weekend!  Another saga story with Comcast!  However, a super young man did his magic this morning and I'm up and running again!  

The washing machine is going.... Jack is at the gym...so the entire house is mine for several hours.  

I'm now going to design a "Gold Star" flag place mat that we will all be working on in September at our Camp Blanding Retreat.  This will be a community project where we will make place mats for our military members...to give to their families.  When the military member is out serving his/her country and there is a special family event meal... they can set their place at the table... and they are with them in spirit.  It's great for the children...to know their "mommy" or "daddy" is 'HOME' !!!  

I'll show the design when finished.  I'm really excited about this project and hope many of the guys and gals will participate with us.

Ok.... off to the design computer!

Have a super-dooper day!

Gloria

Good "sunny" Morning!

Gosh...it's beautiful here this morning... the weather is beautiful... all sunny and cool.  Today is a GREAT day!

I've finally taken some time to get back on Pinterest...gosh I've missed looking at all of the wonderful things.  They have made some upgrades to it and it's better than ever and gives you even MORE things to look at ... OMG!  I'll have to set the timer on my phone so I only spend so many minutes looking... you could be on it ALL DAY! (which really isn't a bad thing....).  I kind of look at it as "doing research work".  Getting new ideas for projects.... new ideas for decorating and sewing.  If you look at it like that ... then you don't feel so guilty spending so much time on it.  It's nothing more than going to the library and looking at reference material or magazines for a project.  Isn't my reasoning logical?  Did it make all of you feel better that are Pinterest addicts too?????

Here is what I've found for the day.....

Isn't this an adorable place mat?  I simply loved it... and what a super way to use up those scraps.  I especially love the flower and bird in the center.  You could just about put anything there.  Make them for each person in your family...for the holidays... just adorable!

Then... one of my favorite blocks is the little bow tie... here they have put them into another little place mat along with some applique flowers.  This would be so cute in bright colors too!!!  I've always wanted to make an entire quilt full of little tiny bow ties... hhhmmm.... here I go again.. adding to my "wish list".  Does it ever end?  Stop the madness!!!

Now this... is something I AM GOING TO MAKE!!!  I read the directions on how to make these adorable bracelets and I must do this.  It's easy.... peasy!!!  I think I'll head out to the store and get me some elastic cording and get busy.  I have some great buttons that I want to show off and this seems the way to do it.

I adore mason jar "stuff" and I have no clue why!!!  Maybe it's because we helped our mom can when we were kids.... thousands of jars over my childhood... everything from fruit to vegetables to meat!!  You named it... if it was something you could eat... she would can it.  Our entire underground basement was full of canned goods.  It got us through the winter when it was hard to travel the roads due to all of the snow.  Plus it sure helped on the grocery bills when "times were tough" on the job markets!

This little jar is now used for potpourri.  You take the metal insert out of the jar lid... find a cute tea strainer and place dry potpourri inside the strainer.  Then take a tea lite and insert in the jar.... light it... and you will have yummy smells in your house in no time.  Make sure you use a small tea light that does NOT have a large flame... or you will have the potpourri going up in flames... that my friends... is NOT GOOD!

Here is another one of those quilts that is on my bucket list (I've decided it should be called a "silo list" because my bucket is way over-flowing... I could fill a silo with all of them!)

A pickle-dish quilt.... OMG!!!  It just doesn't get any better.  These are not easy to make...so... I'm rethinking this bucket list thing!  A faster way to empty the bucket (silo) is to write a check for one of these... if I ever find one I like ... that I can afford!!!  Good idea...don't you think?

So...those are my special "finds" for the day.... but these last two.... my funny pictures... I just had to share with you!  They had hysterical captions under the pictures....

"What... I have spinach in my teeth.... thanks for telling me!"

"Do you have any idea how tiring it is to stand on your feel all day long.  Thanks for the couch!"

Okay... I'm now going to get busy... have some laundry... then I need to gather my sewing together... it's another night of "Sewcial" at Cinnamon's.  Need to finish up some of those projects on that bucket list!!

Chat with you later...

Gloria

Lookie...lookie...see our new LOOK!

Hey...check this out!!!

Heather has been with me this afternoon and we've changed the look of our BLOG!!!  No more giant header (that I screwed up a long time ago).... now it's just like it's supposed to be.

Do you like our new Spring look?  Doesn't it make you want to "dance in the grass" and "smell the pretty flowers"?  (yes... I know.. .I'm being silly.....)

So.... take a peek at the web site too.... on the RETREAT page!  For those of you that have always wanted to attend one of our retreats...now is the time.  We have a SPECIAL retreat in July and it's got lots of room (for now) for you and your girlfriends to attend!  Just sew on those UFO's and make yourself feel so gggggooooooddddd!!!!

Click on this Gold Star Flag and it will take you straight to the Retreat Page and you can read more about it!

Pictures for you!

Good Morning!

I had a super weekend!  Vicky and I spent all weekend at Cinnamon's Quilt Shoppe at a wonderful St. Patrick's Day Sewing Retreat.  Faye and Janice did a fantastic job and we had a blast.  We got to sit with Cindy and Linda and they were super to sew with.

Wow... were we ever productive!  I finished some blocks for a class I'm teaching in June, Vicky finished 2 quilts and was working on the third one.... then.... came one of our "make-it-take-it" projects that Faye taught to us!  Oh my.... I became obsessed with these little zipper bags!  If you've been afraid to put zippers in bags... Don't be afraid any longer!

Take a peak at just a few... (few)... that I've made!    You can make them any size... put the zipper anywhere on the bag that you would like... it's just a blast!  See the one at the bottom?  Vicky bought some fabric that is plastic on the other side...now this bag is water proof... perfect for your makeup!  Yeehaw....   I made 19 bags!!!!!  Yes...that's right ... 19!!!  I was lovingly called the bag B - - - h!  tee hee!    

I'm even going to make a few of these as door prizes for Camp Blanding...!!!  Wouldn't you like to get one of these?  I sure would!

Then... we had delicious food... yummy!!!  Janice did all of the cooking... and let me tell you.... from cooking at the OGC retreats... it's HOT and tiring work.  We had wonderful soup.... and a delicious breakfast casserole!  Loved it!

I went ahead and took a couple pictures of the sewing studio for some of you that wanted to see it.  It's so much prettier in person than it is in pictures...but here it is...

We had just gotten home and "dumped" all of our "stuff" from the retreat...so it's a bit untidy at the moment.  (that sure happens fast when you're sewing doesn't it?)

This is our cutting table area.  We went to see what they had at an auction and we spotted this table... it's standing height and perfect for cutting.  Two of us can work here at one time.  Love it!  The white bin in the front is for trash and the one on the side is for scraps!  Love those scraps!!  All of the natural light from outside is perfect for cutting!

These are our sewing stations... we face each other with a table in between us.  (sorry for the mess... just flopped everything down).  We both have one of these little ironing table stations that Jack made us.  He's such a "handy man" to have around!

Everyone says they want to see our stash... so here it is.  All folded and ready to go into projects!  These are the backgrounds.  When I first began to quilt I had a fetish for collecting all types of background fabrics... you know ... when you're designing a quilt... you simply just have to pick the RIGHT one!

Then we have a wire cart that is full of reds, blacks and our pastels.  As you can see... our pastel shelf is pretty spare... even though we both love pastel... we seem to move more towards the darker colors.  Hey... that gives us an excuse to buy more fabric... when we need pastels... I'm sure we won't have just the right color... or enough of it!.. Yippee!!

These are our blues, golds, cheddars....

Then we have the browns, tans, and greens....

Now... I haven't shown you all of the kits... you simply DON'T want to see how many of those we have.  It would curl your hair!!!  I have weeded out some of them... and need to work more on that project.  I simply won't live long enough to complete all of them... so I've decided to keep only those that have made my "Quilts To Make Bucket List" !!!

Here is our project rack!  This is a bakers rack with trays on it... we have specific projects all together on each tray.  Do you think we need to get busy and finish up some of these?  It's getting a little bit out of hand. Once we get this under more control... I'll send you another picture so you can see that we have made some progress!  I'm hanging my head in shame....

Okay.. that's the tour for today... It's now 4:51 am and I'm getting hungry.  I went to bed at 7:30 pm last night...that sewing all weekend sure wore me out!!   All I did was sit and sew but I was pooped when I got home.  Of course...going to bed early makes one wake up early!  ICK!!!!  I'm thinking it may be a "nap" day for me!

I'll check in with all of you this week.... I have projects to finish and to get ready for my B-a-a-a-d Girls Club this weekend!

Chat with you later!

Gloria

Yee-Haw!!! All Finished!!

I'm doing my "happy dance" !!!

We are finally finished with the unpacking (well....actually... I still have two small boxes...but I'm NOT counting them) and almost finished with the decorating.  I LOVE MY NEW HOUSE!!  We have all decided in all of the homes we've lived in... this is our absolute favorite!  LOVE IT!!!

So... hopefully... I can get back into my routine of posting a little more often!

Our sewing studio is wonderful.  We are using the Master Bedroom suite... including it's TWO HUGE walk-in closets (which are jammed packed full)!  We have two sewing machine cabinets in it along with a nice size table between us... a HUGE cutting table... (we lucked up on this one...went to an antique auction and there it was... sitting right in front of us... PLUS it's standing height!!!  PERFECT!...nice and long too).  Plus we have a long dresser to hold some of our favorite "collections", a 47" television (whew...Mark Garman and Tony Dinozo {sp?} from NCIS look mighty fine on that big screen....ppppuuurrrrr), a cabinet to hold craft stuff and a big bookcase!  Perfect lighting, wonderful windows and a ceiling fan!  How more perfect could it get?  

NOW TO GET SOME WORK DONE!!!

The best thing.....  it's nice and quiet...with it's own bathroom connected to it... and my office is right next door so I can work on the computer and still talk to Vicky if I need something... I am in Heaven!  Thank you Lord!

So... here are some pictures for you ....

We've loved "Annies" forever... here they are... all happy together!

My daughter, Heather, makes wonderful mohair animals.  Here are some of them.  See the photo in the picture?  That is Vicky and I when we were little girls with our big sister, Linda.  

I also have a collection of toy sewing machines.  See the "Antique Toys" sign?  We found these in Pennsylvania and sold them in the store.  They are made from old door headers with old leather straps on them.  One of my favorite things... I simply adore old signs.  The little red lamp....see it?  It's a child's metal toy shoe shine kit.  My honey (Jack) made it into a lamp for us.  Vicky covered the shade (just the other evening) to match the lamp.  It's simply adorable?  If you had a place to buy cute lamps like this... would you?  Send me a comment and let me know.  I have some others here around the house I'll show you (that Jack has made for us).  The little black child's dresser will be a lamp some day too!  Just have to give it to Jack and he does his magic.  I'm telling you... it's a gift from God being married to a man that can do just about anything!  He's just simply the best of the best!  (love you honey!)

Then... here is the dresser in the room... with the BIG TV above it.  Yes...yes... it is full of stuff!  But we love all of our favorites and have to have them out so we can see them.  See the chalkboard on the left - top?  That's the OGC chalkboard we had in the front window with the store hours written on it.  Vicky won't let me wash them off. (she's so silly).  Then... the other chalkboards are part of a collection I have... small children's slates.  I have some that are so wonderful..one still has the slate pencil attached to it with an old string.... one is all tied together - it was falling out of the frame.  Then I have one used for music... I adore them.  Sure wish they could "talk".  Wouldn't that be fun to learn who they belonged to and where they lived?

 Who doesn't love old wooden spools?  I have tons of them ... and I do have projects in mind to use them (just need time to get them done).  Plus... we collect OLD... OLD... tomato/strawberry pin cushions.  Wow... do they each have a personality of their own.  Also... here are some more of my chalkboards.

How about a teddy bear, bunny collection (with one sweet little elephant)?  Many of these Heather made for Vicky and I... the others we have collected over the years!

How's that for a start?  I'll post more tomorrow.... 

I did want to show you a quick project my girlfriend showed me.... theses are hot pads/trivets!  Oh My Gosh... they were so much fun to make and so darn easy.  I know they look hard...but they are not !!

The top one... she cut out for me (my personal lesson from her)... then the bottom right was my next one... then I used up my scraps and made the one on the left.  You ARE supposed to have light, dark, light, dark so you can see the star design.  But I thought...what the heck...I might as well use what's left over and make another one... after all... it's a trivet and hot pad... anything you put together is pretty.

If you live in the Jacksonville area.... you can get all of your supplies from Cinnamon's Quilt Shoppe.  It takes fat quarters and the foundation fabric plus one small piece of batting and a glue stick!  You are then ready to make these fun projects.  I'm telling you... they make sweet gifts too!!!

Okay...that's it for me today.  I'm off to the shower, packing my sewing goodies and heading to Cinnamon's to sew with the girls for the day.

See you all later...

Happy stitching!!!!

Gloria

I can see the light!!

I am among the living!

Wow... what a ride this past month has been!  I am glad to say... I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!  We have been working like mad women on this house and it's coming together...finally.  We still are working on the sewing studio.  I'm just here to tell you... If I buy one more piece of fabric, without getting rid of some that I have... I'm going to cut my wrists!  

I haven't touched some of this fabric in over 10 years!  What in the heck is wrong with me?  I know... it's the same disease we all have (isn't it wonderful?).  Vicky and I have sorted and folded and stacked until we are blue in the face.  I can say... when you all arrive at the September Camp Blanding Retreat.... you will have LOTS OF GOODIES to purchase from my house!  OMG!!  It may take me two trips out there... and I don't want to come home with ANY OF IT!!!  DO YOU ALL HEAR ME?  So come with your checkbooks, stashed "fun" money, and be prepared to spend it!

Here are some photos of what we have accomplished so far....

This is the dining room.... one of my favorite cabinets is this old yellow one with the original milk paint.  We have an antique basket quilt hanging on the door that we want to reproduce.  I love tole trays...these are some of my collection... of course in green (I guess that's my favorite color....???)

This is the fireplace wall in the living/great room.  It goes all the way to the ceiling... I can't wait to have a roaring fire!  Of course...here in Florida those days are pretty rare!  hhhmmmm... why in the heck do we have fireplaces anyway.... "I'm just sayin' !" 

I know you can't see well...but that's my Great Granddaughter's picture - Aubrey sitting on the mantle!

Here is the Olde Green Cupboard... we have it in the study/office - full of our quilts that we have made.  The bottom is stuffed too!!!

This is one of the walls in the living/great room... We decided to have a curtain rod hang so we can change out our quilts for the season.  

This is the rest of the living/great room.  The quilt above is on the right wall - looking at the picture.

So... as you see...it's still a work in progress.  However, lots of fun to do!!

I did get to sit at my sewing machine on Sunday morning and sew the binding on a quilt!  It sure felt good to sew!  

Today is full of running errands and getting a little shopping done... then back to the decorating!

Hope all is well in your homes and that you are getting tons of projects finished!

By the way... we are having another Camp Blanding Retreat - July 26 - 28 !!!

All registration fees paid will be donated to the Gold Star Program for the soldiers and base to use at their discretion.  The only funds they use are donated and it's time we give back to these great men and women.  If you are interested in attending.... email me.  It's $50 for 3 days and your lodging is VERY REASONABLE!!!

Email Gloria

Once I receive your email, I can forward you a registration form to complete and mail back to me!

Thanks to everyone for your support!

Gloria